PolyU Library
Journal Call no.L64.E45
AuthorPennington, Martha C.
Article TitleBilingualism in microcosm : the emergence of discipline-related discourse communities in Hong Kong tertiary education / Martha C. Pennington and John Balla.
Is Part OfEducation journal ; v.24, no.2, Win 1996, p.147-171, illus.
AbstractThe differential use of English and Cantonese in different courses of study at a technical university, as reported by the students, is interpreted as part of a pattern in the larger community of a breakdown of the diglossic relationship of the two main community languages and discipline-related language use which reflects, in microcosm, the variable response to the reality of "post-diglossic" bilingualism as it exists in Hong Kong. The pattern of differential language use in each course may be evidence of the evolution of bilingual discourse communities, each with its own unique profile of use of English and Cantonese.